The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2015, and October 31, 2016 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2016 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on November 3, 2016, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

Finding redemption after
trauma.

Matis sets up the book as
a narrative of salvation. On her second night at college, she was raped in her
dorm room. Understandably devastated, she dropped out after her freshman year
and decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, à la Cheryl Strayed in Wild.
Matis periodically reaches back to her childhood in a leafy suburb of Massachusetts,
the daughter of two Boston lawyers, to attempt to explain a nagging feeling of
not belonging: friends at school teased her for the unfashionable clothes her
mother bought her; the girls in her cabin at sleepaway camp teased her; her
mother insisted on dressing her until she was well into her teens.
Unfortunately, the author is repetitive (“It was a new day, a beautiful one,
and I was the director of my life…”; "This time, I'd become the director
of my life"), which causes the narrative to bloat (by nearly 100 pages).
She also comes off as tone-deaf when she describes her journey on the trail, a
trip funded by her parents: “The PCT would end, and I felt panicked. I’d be
truly homeless, directionless”—though she also realized that she “could not
return to the person she’d picked for me to be. My relationship with my mother
trapped me in the identity of a child.” Matis writes vividly of the culture of
the PCT—the special treats the locals put out for hikers to find, called “trail
magic,” or the “trail angels” who host hikers in small towns along the way—and
she is bold in her willingness to expose her psychic wounds. However, it’s
difficult to remain sympathetic to her struggles when she widens her frame of
victimhood to include her feelings of unattractiveness, her efforts to pry
herself from her mother’s smothering grip, and her inability to put in contact
lenses or swallow pills.

A memoir of
self-discovery by a young writer who still has more work to do.

Be the first to discover new talent!
Each week, our editors select the one author and one book they believe to be most worthy of your attention and highlight them in our Pro Connect email alert.
Sign up here to receive your FREE alerts.